This past decade has been instrumental in revolutionizing the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. The intersection of new and emerging technologies, including the latest AI technology, has set in motion a ripple effect. This effect has caused a seismic level change in how we prevent, treat, and diagnose in healthcare. Amidst this change, Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) remain a pivotal source of expertise and medical advice.
KOL Mapping is a thorough process that takes a step beyond identifying experts within the healthcare landscape. It involves analyzing the relationships, professional networks, and dynamics of KOLs to understand how they interact with the scientific community and how their interactions influence the industry.
This is important because these experts have a wide sway over the medical community, and understanding their dynamics helps life sciences companies to ascertain which KOL to engage for what purpose.
In short, KOL Mapping allows you to identify the number of local, regional, or national experts. Providing the highest chance of maximizing engagement efforts.
Understanding KOL Mapping
The concept of KOL mapping remains the same; however, the idea is expanded when taken in the context of healthcare. Several components are added to refine the concept.
KOL mapping is a strategic process of identifying expert individuals who can lend their expertise in product development, clinical research, marketing strategies and sway public opinion.
For effective mapping, one should consider the following:
Clear Identification Of Goals
The first step towards finding an ideal KOL is a clear understanding of the goal for which the KOL is to be engaged. Possible reasons include launching a new drug or trying out your drug in a new market.
Once the goal is clear, specifically state the relevant medical field. It can be oncology, cardiology, neurology, etc.
Data Collection
Once clearly defined, the goal and specialty will narrow down the possible places to collect data for these experts. Potential sources include medical journals, researchers, conferences, seminars, etc.
One excellent source can also be professional affiliations. By examining them, you may find suitable KOLs who resemble your ideal profile.
Segmenting The Relevant Matches
Once a list of KOLS has been compiled, the next step is to add the required filters. These filters range from geographical location to digital presence. Recall your goal again to help you identify which KOLs to target. Scores can also be assigned based on the filters that make this process quantifiable. Preset KOL mapping tools can be a useful addition to this process, allowing for effective KOL identification and mapping.
Moving to Engage
Once a relevant individual has been identified as a potential target, a communication strategy should be developed. Before approaching the KOL, their preferred channel of communication should be considered to maximize the likelihood of beneficial engagement.
These are the initial components of KOL mapping, and the constituents vary according to need and organization.
Role of KOLs in Healthcare
KOLs play a multifaceted role in the medical community; the primary ones include:
Thought Leaders
These individuals are powerful voices that shape the environment around them. They consistently contribute valuable knowledge to their field, and the industry turns to them when it needs guidance. KOL publication mapping can identify these thought leaders via their contributions.
Industry Influencers
These are the people who are considered medical experts on a digital platform. These individuals educate the public and are known for their credibility and trust.
Regulatory Advisors
These individuals hold an in-depth understanding of regulations. They share their expertise with healthcare companies to help them adhere to compliance norms.
Mentorship
Due to their extensive knowledge and expertise, these individuals mentor emerging leaders, bringing in the new generation of KOLs.
Bridging The Gap
KOLs, with their status as experts, are perfect intermediaries between life sciences companies and the medical community at large. They do so by translating scientific information into simpler words so it’s accessible to the general public. They provide credibility to new products, accelerating product adoption.
Challenges with Traditional KOL Mapping
Traditional methods of KOL mapping were limited by the technologies of their time. Today, that has changed due to the increasing integration of new AI technology in healthcare.
The following challenges were faced while mapping KOLs in the past:
Leaning on Quantitative Metrics
Influence mapping is a qualitative concept. Traditional methods, like first-hand primary research, often struggled to do so because metrics leaned heavily on quantitative contributions rather than qualitative impact. This often resulted in over- or underestimation of a KOL’s true impact.
Siloed Data
Collaboration between medical and commercial teams is a recent phenomenon. Before that, much of the data from both teams was gathered and worked on separately, leading to fragmented and unintegrated data in databases.
Inability to Capture Multidisciplinary Influence
In addition to data silos, traditional mapping considered one specialty at a time when judging a KOL’s expertise. They failed, or rather had no way, to incorporate multiple disciplines while judging the contributions of a KOL to the medical field.
Static Engagement Strategies
Traditionally, the messages and channels chosen for communication with KOLs allowed for very little change. Life science companies used a one-size-fits-all policy while approaching a KOL, rendering the marketing strategy ineffective from the beginning.
Emerging Trends in KOL Mapping
New KOL mapping enjoys the benefits of advancements in technology. Due to which, new paradigms are emerging, causing a trend to be formed. They are:
Digital Transformation
Digital advancements have made strides in the past decade. Now, the process is more automated and streamlined and can include multiple databases to give you a comprehensive picture of KOL’s influence.
Machine Learning, an important facet of AI, can also process large volumes of data to identify easily missable patterns, trends, and insights.
Power of Social Media
Social media has evolved considerably. Now, it acts as a source of information for all medical matters. This has allowed life sciences companies an insider look at what KOLs talk, think and feel about their products.
Keyword tracking and hashtag analysis have also solidified themselves as fundamentals to understanding a KOL’s influence network.
Cross-border KOL Mapping
Tracking location as well as international influence has never been easier. As healthcare becomes a global concept, the KOL influence has also transcended borders. This comes in handy when the goal is to introduce pharmaceutical drugs into a new market. Building upon the influence network of a substantial KOL can help in these efforts, especially with the prevalence of emerging AI companies and IT technologies.
Technology and its Integration With Healthcare
Predictive Analysis
Predictive Analysis is a process that uses historical data to predict future outcomes. Forecasting changes in a KOL’s influence network becomes possible by integrating multiple data points. Market trends can also be predicted similarly. Efficient predictions can help life science companies stay ahead of their competition.
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis, also called opinion mining, allows life sciences companies to ascertain how a KOL expresses or perceives a certain topic, brand, or trend. This also allows them to understand how well a KOL is looked upon by the community at large. By understanding this dynamic, pharma companies can better align their marketing goals and craft personalized engagement strategies.
Social Network Analysis (SNA)
SNA is a step-by-step process of analyzing social structure through the use of graphs. For KOL mapping, this enables an understanding of relationships, communication, and influence patterns. While predictive analysis focuses on predicting future trends, SNA focuses on current trends. And how the KOLs are connected, whether through affiliation, co-authorship, or institutions.
With the help of KOL influence mapping techniques, the information gathered through this analysis is depicted in a graph for convenience.
Future Outlook and Predictions
As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, the processes involved in KOL mapping are also gaining complexity.
Enhanced Collaboration Tools
These tools will go beyond mere virtual calling and collaboration to understand the KOL influence map.
These advanced tools will allow for global cloud sharing and cross-border KOL partnerships. Real-time data updates will ensure that the most recent information about a KOL’s profile—including publications, clinical trial involvement, and influence networks—is always updated and easily accessible.
This immediate access eliminates inefficiencies due to incomplete or outdated information.
Expansion into New Therapeutic Area
Techniques like predictive analysis and machine learning have made expansions into new therapeutic areas much simpler and seamless. One can easily identify KOLs who are pioneering novel treatments at local, national, or international levels.
New therapeutic modalities, such as gene editing, have gained much traction recently. As such, life sciences companies will need to identify such individuals and include them while mapping for KOL influence.
Conclusion
KOL mapping is a dynamic process that is changing as we speak. KOLs have a myriad of responsibilities, making them an important part of the hectare landscape. The increasing parameters of mapping a KOL’s influence network adds new facets to the process, opening up new possibilities to capitalize on. It is imperative for life science companies to keep up with these emerging technologies, trends, and technological advancements to ensure that they are making the best possible use of their resources while simultaneously working towards better patient outcomes.
